Saturday, February 17, 2007

This is definitely one of the more interesting 'alternative' policing methods tried in the suburbs of Sydney in recent years.

The car company Lotus has donated the above vehicle to Bankstown police on a "long term loan" basis.

It's good for all involved. Lotus gets some top-notch publicity, the cops not only get to cruise around in what must be the best looking police car on the planet, but they also have an excellent way of getting the local car enthusiasts to come over for a chat.

To top it off, the Lotus Exige is leaner and greener than the meaty V8s most police in NSW are currently using.

Gizmag has an excellent, very detailed story, well worth checking out on the Lotus Exige, and the Bankstown police's plans for the vehicle. Here's some highlights :

The lightweight, high performance Lotus Exige sports car will be used by Bankstown Local Area Command for a number of community policing roles over the next six months, including most importantly, helping to build better relations between police and local performance car enthusiasts and youth.

The Lotus also boasts significantly better fuel economy than conventional V8 and turbocharged six cylinder Highway Patrol cars and will bring a new green hue to the command’s vehicle fleet.

Being almost half the weight and with an engine that is less than a third the size of traditional Highway Patrol sedans the Exige is significantly kinder on the environment consuming on average around five litres less fuel per 100km while still being able to accelerate from 0 to 100km/h up to 30 percent faster than the big V8s.

“The Lotus Exige will help break down barriers between our officers and youth in the area, it gives them a discussion point and a way of breaking the ice,” said Superintendent Dave Darcy.

“We have a large proportion of car enthusiasts in the area and it is a challenge to influence them to drive safely. Whilst its easy to give this group tickets to slow them down we would prefer to influence young drivers to take care on the roads."

I think the Bankstown cops better make it clear to the local rev heads that the Lotus isn't on the roads for high speed pursuit.

For some, the temptation to try and outrun this super cop car could prove too much to resist.